


Somewhere on a Beach

by calilumina



Category: dierks bentley - Fandom, somewhere on a beach (song)
Genre: Beaches, Break Up, Drinking, F/M, Hook-Up, Original Character(s), Songfic, Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-01
Updated: 2016-04-01
Packaged: 2018-05-30 13:11:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6425335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calilumina/pseuds/calilumina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After an argument with his now ex-girlfriend, Austin takes off on an impromptu trip to Mexico to get her off his mind.</p><p>Based on/inspired by the song "Somewhere on a Beach" by Dierks Bentley</p><p>Thanks to my husband and <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/users/ayy_zajjy/">ayy_zajjy</a> for beta-reading!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Somewhere on a Beach

The wheels touched down on the runway and Austin let out the breath he had been holding.  He didn’t mind flying, but the knowledge of approaching the ground at a couple hundred miles per hour made him wish he’d had another bottle or two of the airline rum.

“Ladie -- tlmen, welc -- ternational Airport,” the pilot’s voice cut in and out over the loudspeaker.  Around him, the other passengers shifted to pull out their phones and wrap up their earbuds.  With a sigh, Austin reached into his pocket for his own phone and hit the power button.

Eight missed calls.  Three voicemails.  And two emails.  Before he could even open the first message, the screen of Austin’s phone lit up with a delayed text message, “ _Hey where are you man?_ ”  Then another, “ _You ok?_ ”  The texts from his friends - his boys, as she always called them - continued to come in.  Austin sighed again and turned off the screen.   _I need a drink first._

He waited in his seat until most of the passengers cleared off the plane before standing up for his carry-on.  It contained mostly electronics - a laptop, his ipod, and the handful of charging cords from his nightstand.  Everything else was in the largest suitcase he could find.  Without knowing when exactly he would be returning home, he threw in all the clean clothes he had.

Austin slung the strap of his bag over his shoulder.  But before he was even off of the jetbridge, his phone buzzed with a call.   _Mom_ , the display read.

“Hey, Ma.”

“Honey, where are you?”  Her voice sounded shrill with concern.

“I went on vacation, Ma.”

“Lacey came by looking for you,” she said.  Austin couldn’t help but roll his eyes.  Lacey made it pretty clear yesterday that she was choosing her new corporate job in the city over him.  This time, he wasn’t going to be around for her charade to win him back.

“Just tell her I’m not home,” he replied bitterly.   _I ain’t even close._  “Look, Ma, I gotta run.  I’ll call you in a few days, alright?”

“Alright, honey, take care of yourself.”

“I will.  Love you, Ma.”  Austin stopped at the edge of the terminal and slid his phone back into his pocket.  Ahead of him, the signs were all in Spanish.  Tourists, families, and locals rushed around him mumbling their annoyance at his inconvenient stop.

But past the drab carpet and rows of worn out bench seats, through the window where a pair of children gleefully pressed their hands against the glass, and across the flat stretch of concrete and runway, there it was: the beach.

\-----

An hour or so later, he set his phone down on the hotel bar.  The barkeep handed him a menu, and Austin pointed to the first word he recognized: tequila.  He held up two fingers, then pointed at the drink again.  The barkeep gave him a knowing smile and turned away to make the drinks.

His phone buzzed annoyingly on the wooden bar.  The screen lit up and _Lacey Louise_ scrolled across the display.

 _Aw, hell no._  He quickly ended the call with a swipe and held down the power button of his phone.

The barkeep returned with two drinks, and Austin dished out a couple of bills to cover the cost.  The liquid in both both glasses was bright pink fading to creamy yellow, with an umbrella of fruit bites across the top.

Austin picked the first one up and took a sip.  His tongue lit up with the bitterness of the alcohol.   _Much better._  Grabbing one drink in each hand, he walked out to a boardwalk and sat himself down in a wooden lounge chair.  For the first time in what felt like months, a smile came across his face as he looked out over the sand and waves.

\-----

The next few days were relaxing and blissful.  Austin started each morning on the hotel boardwalk, strolled the beach in the afternoons, and ended each night in a club or at a waterfront party.  He took a few naps here and there when the alcohol caught up to him, but he hadn’t really slept since he arrived.  The sun during the day and the bustling nightlife kept him so energized, he didn’t even need it.

The barkeep gave Austin a friendly wave when he walked up for his afternoon order.  While he waited for the drink, a young woman approached the bar a few stools away.  She had wavy blonde hair hanging loose around her face and shoulders, and she wore a loose-fitting sundress that stopped short enough to emphasize the length of her legs.

Austin tried to gulp back the suggestive thoughts his earlier drinks allowed his brain to conjure.  As his eyes drifted back up the woman’s body ( _And what a body it is_ , he thought), he noticed a used airline ticket sticking out of the edge of her purse and a pale line of skin at the base of her ring finger.

“First time here, too?” His question pulled the attention of the woman’s bright blue eyes.

She nodded with a defiant smile.  “Yeah.  Always wanted to visit, just never got the chance.”

The barkeep set down Austin’s drink in front of him.  “Gracias, Jorge.  Uno mas,” Austin said with a small jerk of his head in the woman’s direction.  He set out a few bills on the bar top and swiveled his chair to face her.  “Controlling ex-boyfriend wouldn’t let you?” he asked hopefully.

The woman laughed cynically, “Ex-husband was always too busy at the office.  With his secretary.”  She looked at Austin for a minute, then turned to him fully with her hand out.  “I’m Nicole.”

“Austin,” he replied as they shook hands.

\-----

Late that night, Austin and Nicole sat around a bonfire with eight or so other vacationers sharing stories of what it was that made them take the trip.  Some people were fired from their jobs, others quit, and even more were running from one failed relationship or another, but all of them came to find solace in the care-free, dulled-senses, relaxed and happy atmosphere of the beach.

The group had turned to toasting shots of tequila and rum, celebrating the freedoms they had here away from the rest of the world.  “To never having a wake up call,” one man said, and the rest of them cheered and tipped back their drinks.

“To not living for a mindless nine to five city job,” another said after they had poured their refills.

“To never having to commute into _any_ damn city,” Austin said before downing his shot glass.  Across the circle from him, Nicole let out an enthusiastic cheer.

“To never putting a job before someone you love,” Nicole said when it came around to her turn.  Austin nodded and let out a holler in agreement.   _She gets it_ , he thought.   _Like Lacey never did._

“To the sand and the waves and the salty breeze!”

The group continued their toasts until finally they were on their last round.  With extra full glasses to finish off the bottle, one of the men toasted with a sly smirk, “To the beautiful people on the beach, and the _special_ time we share with them.”

Nicole waited with the rim of her shot glass by her lips until she caught Austin’s gaze.  She winked at him with a playful smile and a look in her eyes that made his imagination run wild with indecent thoughts.  She tipped back the drink, then motioned with her head in a silent request.   _Want to get out of here?_

They could hardly keep their hands off each other as they made their way back to the hotel.  The door to Austin’s room was barely closed before Nicole was on him, pushing him against the wall, kissing his collarbone and running her hands all over his chest.

She nibbled into the base of his neck, and that was the last straw.  With a moan of pleasure, he lifted her in a hug and carried her towards the bed.  Nicole wrapped her legs around him, and they fell onto the blankets and pillows as one entity.

\-----

The next four days went by in a blur of drinks, parties, swimming, and laying in the sun that made Austin nearly forget the reason he came to the beach in the first place.  But the thing that made him grin the most were the private moments stolen away with Nicole.

Austin laid out two beach towels on the sand and sat down on one, carefully, as to not spill his drink.  The sun was high in the sky, and he had to tilt his head back to keep it from shining around the edges of his sunglasses.  Next to him, his phone chirped with his text message notification.

 _Lacey Louise_ , the sender line read.  For the first time in a week, Austin frowned.  He thought about just deleting it, forgetting it ever came in.  But after three days of silence from her, his curiosity got the better of him.

“ _I’m moving today_ ,” it said.  “ _Want to say goodbye.  Where are you?_ ”

“Why the frown?”  Nicole laid down on the towel next to him in her bikini.  She tossed a bottle of sunscreen in his direction.  “Do we need to go back to the room to get you smiling again?”  She had that look in her eyes again, the one that made his swim shorts feel a bit tight.

“Not yet,” he said with a grin.   _I’m gettin’ over you right now, Lacey_ , he decided.  Before giving Nicole his full attention again, he quickly typed his response back to Lacey, a message containing only four words: _Somewhere on a beach._


End file.
